THE KING’S BUSINESS
586
most'plausible argument. What is the harm of eating meat offered idols? We all know the “idol is nothing” and the meat is not changed thereby; why then should we be so careful regarding it? Paul answers that argument,'“What say I, then, that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything ? But I say ' that the things which the Gentries sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and g would riot that we should have com munion with demons” (1 Cor. 10:19). It is at the point of slight departure from the path of rectitude that the Church of Christ suffers most, for the appeals to such departure “deceive even the very elect.” You cannot tempt God’s children to drunk enness, but you may inveigle them into tippling ; you cannot get them to begin the ater-going at a ten-cerit dive, but you can start them at the opera; you cannot secure their response to your invitation | to attend a dance at a downtown resort, but you can scheme it, if you open a beautiful parlor and put a winsome hostess in charge; you do not dare to boldly invite Christian wo men to neglect church privileges arid duties and contribute time and talent to the world, but through the medium of a well-dressed and attractive club you can accomplish it. You do not dare to go to Christian men and decry the Church of God, but if you can inveigle them into a sufficient number 61 secret societies they may be brought to say, “Our organizations are just as good.” Dr. Arthur Pierson said truly, “The god of this world takes careless feet in the subtlest of his snares, when he secures even from the Lord’s disciples the recognition and sanction of his favorite forms of be- guilement.” “Love not the world: neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father; but is of the world; and the world passeth away and the lust thereof.” Worldliness eventually results in putrid conduct. It is a far-cry from eating “meat offered to idols” to the commission of “for-
“equity,” their “gentleness” ! They rail against “extremists” ; they don't believe in “taking sides” on a question! “Moderation” is their watchword! Luther was too radical for them; Wyclif was an ,extremist; Hus, hard-headed; Savonarola, stubborn; Spur geon, bigoted. But let it be understood that these “gentle folk” are always and every where clogs on the wheels of progress. We owe our present standing at every point of worth to the conduct of the radicals of the past. Men like Antipas and Philip, and Peter and Paul, paid the price of their impetuosity at the martyr’s stake, but their blood was the seed of the church. VWhen they told Rowland Taylor that if he would not “rise and receive mercy he should have judgment according to his demerit,” Taylor answered, “So to rise would be the greatest fall that ever I could receive.” They urged upon Hooper that he should “recant.” He answered, “I have taught the truth with my tongue and with my pen^ heretofore, and hereafter I shall shortly confirm the same, by God’s grace, with my blood.” Basil Manly tells how, during the stormy days of the Civil War, a little company of rebel soldiers were found standing on a hill in the midst of the slain, after the battle had swept past them. An officer, riding up, said, “Where is your general?” “There he lies,” replied one, pointing his finger at a pros trate form. “And where is your captain?” “There he is,” he answered again, turning his finger to another slain. “And what are you doing here?” With his hand still to ward the dead officer, he said, “Doing? He told us this was the vantage point, and to hold it or die, and we are just doing what he said.” Such a spirit upon the soldiers of our Great Captain—Christ—would make the Church of God invincible. PERIL OF WORLDLINESS “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols.” Worldliness always presents a winsome approach. It takes us at the point of the
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker